BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
12 THE MAJOR PROPHETS, I
Introduction to Prophets
•Prophecy:
•Forthtell God’s message: Preach
•Nabhi: “announcer” of voices (300 times)
•Foretell the future: Predict
•Roeh: “seer” of visions (12 times)
•Their message:
•Repent: turn back to God
•Reform: obey the Law
•Restore: God will judge and one day restore all things
•How?
•Visual: object lessons
•Verbal: preaching sermons
ISAIAH
•Authorship:
•Who? Isaiah (“Lord is salvation”)
•When? 680 B.C.
•To Whom? Judah (the southern kingdom)
•Last Major warning to the southern kingdom before the rise of Babylon
•Critical view but arguments for the unity of Isaiah can be made well.
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
Isaiah 1-5
•Selected sermons that introduce the major themes of the book
•Ch 1, 3, 5-- if the people do not repent and turn back to God, judgment will come
•Ch 2, 4– describes the future Messianic Kingdom (where God will rule from Jerusalem)
where Israel and Judah united will worship God wholly + Gentile nations will worship
God instead of their idols (Isaiah 2:2-4)
Isaiah 6—Isaiah’s call
Virgin Birth Prophecy (7:14)
•Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.
•Dual-Fulfillment: predicts both the birth of a child in Isaiah’s time and the future birth of
Christ
•Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah’s second son born in chapter 8)
•almah: the young virgin of marriable age.”
•Messianic fulfillment about the birth of Christ
•Matthew 1:23 says this was a prediction of Jesus
Divine Child Prophecy (9:6-7)
•For to us, a child is born, to us, a son is given; and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Righteous Branch (11-12)
•A person who comes from the line of King David
•Spirit-empowered with supernatural knowledge & wisdom
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•Leads a Kingdom where even nature is at peace (wolf shall dwell with the lamb, etc.)
•The whole world will be “full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the seas.”
•People will praise God for his mercy and salvation (12)
13-23
•God sees and judges both His people and the Gentile nations
24-35
•Foretelling about the end time and the ushering of God’s Kingdom
36-39
•God saves Hezekiah and Judah from the Assyrians
God is greater than the Idols (40-48)
•God is the Creator, and idols are created
•The idols do not know the future, but God knows and controls the future
•Cyrus is predicted by name 150 years in advance
God’s coming salvation (Isa 52)
The Suffering Servant (52:13-53:12)
•Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up (52:13)
•He grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of the dry ground; he had
no form or majesty that we should look at him (53:2)
•He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as
one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely
he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by
God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, we
are healed.
•Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul
makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will
of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be
satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be
accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (53:10-11)
•Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors,
yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. (53:12)
•Connection to the New Testament (Lk 4:18-21)
Isaiah & Jesus
•Jesus as Prince of Peace, born of a virgin
•Jesus as the Suffering Servant
•Isaiah is highly quoted in NT to show that Jesus is the Messiah.
JEREMIAH & LAMENTATIONS
•Authorship:
•Who? Jeremiah the prophet (quoted by Daniel and Ezra)
•The “Weeping Prophet”
•When? During the reigns of Judah’s last 4 kings
•Where? Judah
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•Why? The final warning of coming captivity
•Jeremiah’s Message to the Nation
•Repent of sin and turn back to God
•The temple and Jerusalem will not save you
•Do not listen to the false prophets that are saying that the Babylonians will fail or
that the exile will not be long.
•Submit to Babylon because judgment is coming
•Jeremiah’s Key Prophecies
•70-year captivity (25:11; 29:10)
•Coming Righteous Branch
•God’s covenantal commitment to his people (Jer 31:3_
•I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued my
faithfulness to you.
•New Covenant 31:31-34
•Five Aspects of the New Covenant
•Distinct from the Mosaic Covenant
•New Covenant with God’s people
•The Law will be written on their hearts
•God will be their God
•He will forgive their sins
•Theme: The New Covenant will restore Israel the way the Mosaic
Covenant never could.
•Judah’s Rejection of Jeremiah
BIBL105: Old Testament Survey
•Jehoiakim burns Jeremiah’s scroll (36)
•Jeremiah was arrested and thrown in a pit for “treason”
•He is ultimately rescued by Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian
•Jeremiah eventually is kidnapped and presumably dies in Egypt
LAMENTATIONS
•Written by Jeremiah during the fall of Jerusalem
•Purpose: Jeremiah is lamenting (a passionate expression of grief or sorrow) about the
destruction of Jerusalem, even though he knew it was God’s judgment.
•Even though he prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed, he was not happy to see
the judgment have to happen.
•Lamentations 3
•22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end.
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Jeremiah/Lamentations & Jesus
•Jesus as the righteous branch
•Jesus as the fulfiller of the New Covenant
•Jesus as the source of ultimate hope
